


Fangs

by Heliocat



Category: Banana Fish (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Alternate Ending, Fluff, Forever, Happy Ending, M/M, Transformation, Trope Subversion/Inversion, Vampires, best laid plans of mice and men, eternity together
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-18
Updated: 2021-02-18
Packaged: 2021-03-14 08:27:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,169
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29539587
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Heliocat/pseuds/Heliocat
Summary: Vampires aren’t especially common, but there are enough of them lurking in the shadows that they present a problem to society on a global scale. Most of them are peaceful and do not kill, yet persecution of their kind was rife. They're seen as being monsters because they need blood to survive. Ash feels sorry for them - he's never met a vampire before knowingly, but he figured if he ever did he would probably feel understanding and solidarity with them. And if they were a vicious killer… well, so was he.
Relationships: Ash Lynx/Okumura Eiji
Comments: 8
Kudos: 59





	Fangs

**Author's Note:**

> Here's an obligatory vampire fic that everyone writes at some point :D Bleh bleh bleh!  
> I have, however, tried to flip the Banana Fish trope on its head... Everyone writes Ash as a vampire. I wanted to be different. 
> 
> Anything written <"like this"> indicates the character is speaking Japanese.
> 
> British English spelling and grammar, because Bram Stoker loves Whitby.
> 
> Many thanks to Akimi Yoshida for creating Banana Fish - this is a work of fanfiction, so I own none of the intellectual property.

Vampires aren’t especially common, but there are enough of them lurking in the shadows that they present a problem to society on a global scale. For most people, the fear of attack is an everyday annoyance rather than an all-encompassing anxiety, and co-habiting with the parasitic humanoids had become the preferable method for many. They were still rare enough that attacks were infrequent. Fatalities following attack were rarer still, especially with modern medical interventions, and there were experts trained to deal with eradication whenever one is found and confirmed.

The problem was, vampires look and act just like regular people. Many of the myths surrounding them are untrue. They can walk outside in sunshine, they can eat garlic, and they are not afraid of religious symbols. They cannot shapeshift into animals or hypnotise people. They are warm to the touch, don’t necessarily have porcelain skin, and they have reflections. Vampirism affected people of all races, creeds, backgrounds, and all genders. They are, however, far sturdier and more powerful than a human, resistant to diseases and most poisons, although certain toxins, particularly those that cause anaesthesia and paralysis for unknown reasons, would still have an effect, but it's never fatal and the effects were shortened. Their lifespan is considerably longer, averaging into the 500-600 years mark, but potentially could reach several millennia if people didn’t keep hunting them down. This is due to an incredibly slow metabolism; they are alive, rather than being the living dead, and they do age, albeit very slowly, but their bodies operate far more efficiently than a human. They heal quickly from wounds, even ones that would usually be fatal, so the only sure-fire way to kill one is to destroy the brain or heart – generally, eradicators used decapitation these days for its speed, efficiency, and it was ruled as more humane, but in the past a wooden stake through the heart was popular. However, an accurate shot to the head or heart with a gun would be just as effective, as would any large enough trauma to the abdomen that could overwhelm their healing ability. The only real defining feature was that the canine teeth were just a bit longer than normal, but many humans had this trait too, so you couldn’t just go round beheading everyone with slightly bigger eye teeth.

They do require human blood to survive, and it needs to be fresh. Animal blood is not sufficient, and blood bags spoil too fast to be viable. Refrigeration and time affects the nutritional value, and while donated blood still saves human lives by transfusion it proves difficult for a vampire to digest and gain what they need from it – you would need to drink considerably more donated blood than you would fresh. Vampirism is actually a viral disease. All vampires were once human, the blood-bourne virus enhancing several human traits beneficially, but in doing so it damages certain cells in their bone marrow meaning they can no longer effectively produce enough of their own haemoglobin, so they need to steal some from those who can, and animal blood is incompatible. The good news is they really don’t need that much of it to survive. A cupful once a week is normally sufficient. The rest of the time, they eat and drink the same as a normal human. If they can’t get blood, they begin to waste away, becoming anaemic and weak as they starved. The hunger could drive them to madness. Modern vampires were usually pretty considerate towards their victims though – on a normal person, a small cup of blood being drained will do no lasting damage at all. Way more is taken in a blood drive, and their bodies will renew the lost blood completely within a day or two. To lessen stress, vampires will use an anaesthetic on their victim to knock them out fast, sup what they needed, and then either ring them an ambulance and claim they ‘found them collapsed on the street’ or take them to hospital themselves with the same excuse. Provided they didn’t have an adverse reaction to anaesthesia, they would wake up in medical care, be given a once over by doctors, asked to give a statement in case the vampire in question could be tracked and traced, and were told to be more careful while walking alone in future. Vampire attacks in the States were usually covered by insurance, and even those without cover were not left bankrupt by the fees.

You did get the occasional murderous vampire. They don’t need to kill, but they live for that thrill, just like any human serial killer. It’s not vampirism that causes this; it’s just simple psychopathy. It is this twisted minority that create the paranoia and prejudice. All vampires were looked upon with scorn, distain, and fear, with laws stating it is necessary to imprison or eradicate them, just because of the minority. Persecution was rife. Besides, even someone taking just a cupful of blood because they need to survive was deemed by most of society to be perverse and an invasion of their rights. There were internment camps of captured vampires dotted across the country, but imprisonment was probably worse than execution, as the vampire would slowly starve cut off from its food source rather than die mercifully quickly.

Ash kind of felt sorry for them in that respect. They reminded him of the street gangs, where most of the kids were just trying to survive and live in peace, needing to break a few laws here and there to do so, but there were always a few who craved power and lived for violence that tarred all of them with the same brush. Naturally, when persecuted, you would fight back too. Ash had never met a vampire before knowingly, but he figured if he ever did he would probably feel understanding and solidarity with them. And if they were a vicious killer… well, so was he.

Really, he should have seen the big red flags sticking up all over the place.

***

Eiji had been under his protection for a while now. Since escaping Golzine’s mansion and going into hiding, he had kept him locked away in the apartment they shared for his own protection. He wasn’t street-smart like he and his boys were, and was prone to being kidnapped, so to keep him safe he warned him to stay indoors, and if he ventured out he had the permanent bodyguards of Kong and Bones with him. Eiji had been pretty agitated by this, claiming it was unnecessary, but reluctantly he had succumbed to Ash’s demands. He was remarkably blasé when it came to things that might hurt him, but Ash had figured he was just brave and naïve to the point of recklessness.

As time went by, Eiji seemed to grow listless. A week into his captivity, he began to pace the apartment restlessly. He asked a couple of times if it would be alright to go out alone, just for some fresh air, or if maybe Ibe could come over to keep an eye on him instead of Kong and Bones. Ash told him no. Ibe was worse than Eiji was for street smarts, was just as big a target, and he’d got the photographer clamped down with Max over on Long Island.

By the second week, he started looking pale and tired, his skin losing its healthy olive glow and his hair becoming dull and lifeless. When he wasn’t pacing, like a tiger locked in a cage, he’d spend a lot of time flopped on his bed, not quite asleep but not awake either. It was a little concerning, but he’d wave it off as him being bored and tired. To Ash, it looked more like exhaustion rather than general ennui, which couldn’t be right because while Eiji did do housework it wasn’t like he was slaving his way to collapse. 

Week three, he got worse. Ash started getting really concerned, but taking him to a hospital was not an option. He begged Ash to let him out, and once again he responded no. Eiji no longer looked in a fit state to go anywhere. Sometimes, Ash would catch him crying, curled up in a ball in bed, muttering to himself in Japanese.

On the fourth week, Eiji attacked him.

He’d asked once more if he could please, please be let out of the apartment, his voice distressed and pleading. He swore he’d be fine, would only be gone for an hour, if that, and wouldn’t go far. Ash had told him firmly ‘no’, and was taken completely by surprise as the usually gentle and kind Japanese boy suddenly dived desperately at him, sobbing and apologetic as he knocked him down and pinned him to the floor with incredible strength.

“WOAH! Eiji, what the hell! Get off me!”

He never would have guessed Eiji was that strong. It wasn’t that he was weak – as a former athlete, he did have muscles and a subtle strength that had persisted even after retirement, but the raw power Ash felt himself being pinned by was something else entirely. Not even the middle-aged paedos of his past had been able to so effectively hold him prone. Even with them, he’d usually be able to squirm around and their strength was only human. Eiji’s was… unnatural. He tried to push him off, kicking upwards with his legs and trying to wrench his arms free, failing abysmally.

<”I’m sorry!”> Eiji sobbed, babbling in Japanese, his face twisted in misery. <”Ash, I’m sorry!”>

“Eiji!!!”

“I have to,” he whimpered. “Sorry!”

And then he bit him.

Eiji had large eye teeth that stuck out in a way that the Japanese found endearing for some reason, little yaeba fangs that made his smile cute and childish. The points of these teeth punctured the juncture between his neck and collarbone with a sharp scratch. He immediately started to lap and suck at the wound with a desperation born of hunger, greedily gulping the blood while weeping bitterly.

Ash suddenly understood everything.

Eiji looked young for his age because he wasn’t human, and had probably been turned when he was 14-15 years old. Maybe he really was 19, maybe not, but he would likely remain looking like a teenager for the next 100 years or more.

Eiji was brave because he knew he was stronger, faster, and more capable that most people. He had been able to overpower Ash easily, and he was Ash fucking Lynx! He hid his strength to blend into society, and when he got captured, he would play along and wait for an opening to escape.

Eiji was reckless because he was difficult to kill and would heal fast. If he got injured, even badly, it wouldn’t be painful for very long. He was only really nervous when people threatened to shoot him in the head or stab him in the chest, as this would kill him, although being badly injured and healing fast was still risky because he could be found out.

Eiji had wanted to go outside alone so he could drink blood to survive. He was trying to hide his need from them out of fear of what they would do, and shame about what he was.

Eiji had grown restless and sick because he was starving.

Eiji – kind, gentle Eiji, who let flies go alive out the window and who held him comfortingly after a nightmare - was a vampire.

Eiji eventually pulled away from him, still sobbing regretfully, after taking roughly a pint of blood. It was smeared all over his lips and chin, making him look demonic had he not been crying apologetically, staring at him with terrified eyes. It was the first time he had looked at Ash with fear, and it occurred to him that Eiji was probably anxious about how he would react to him, and whether he would let him stay with him or even let him live after learning what he was.

“Sorry! S…sorry, Ash!” he stuttered nervously, quivering as he edged away from him, wiping his mouth frantically clean. “I was just… s…so hungry! Sorry! I had to! I… I run out of option!”

“Eiji…”

Eiji flinched, hearing him speak his name. Ash sat up slowly, holding the bite wound with one hand and trying to ignore that the room swam alarmingly for a few seconds before stabilising.

“Y…you probably hate me, r…right?” Eiji murmured. “P…please… Do not hand me to the eradicators! I will leave! Th…They will…” he hiccoughed around a particularly large and scared sob. Ash’s face had remained unchanged, his eyes sharp as they stared at Eiji. “N…no… please…” Eiji pleaded. His eyes scanned the room, panicky and desperate, alighting on Ash’s pistol sat on the floor nearby where it had fallen out of his waistband during their struggle. Shaking, Eiji picked it up, holding it by the barrel with the grip pointing towards Ash. “H...here… If you have to… I would rather… be you… than suffer. You at least w…would make it quick.”

Ash was still struggling to process what exactly had just happened. He understood, he just couldn’t quite comprehend it through his stupefaction. His mind slowly pieced together everything that had happened in the last few minutes, making sense of it all. Eiji was a vampire, had just bitten him, hated himself for it, and was now absolutely terrified that Ash was going to report him to the relevant authorities, who would then imprison him without food and, if he didn’t starve first, execute him. Rather than face potential weeks of going mad in a cage as he wasted away at a torturous pace, waiting around in a government facility to die, Eiji had just asked Ash to kill him. The arm holding the gun out towards him was trembling violently, Eiji clearly petrified by the idea that he could very well be dead within the next few minutes.

Ash reached out and took the pistol from him. He looked down at it pensively, its familiar mass and tactile grip in his palm, heavy with the weight of all the lives it had already taken.

“Must have been hard,” Ash said quietly, not looking at him. “Stuck in here, slowly starving… And I didn’t even notice a thing!”

“Go…government facility would b…be worse,” he stuttered. “S…so, please… H…head or heart will do…” He closed his eyes and stiffened, bracing himself.

Ash threw the gun aside. It slid along the carpet, coming to rest by the kitchen table. He then crawled forward and dragged Eiji into a tight and reassuring hug.

“I’m not going to kill you,” he murmured, pulling him against his chest. “Life is unfair already, without shooting a good person for a reason they can’t help.”

Eiji made a weird keening noise, clearly in a state of surprised shock, before grabbing Ash desperately and crying uncontrollably. Ash held him as they rode through his emotions together, relief and gratefulness and apologies and regrets swirling violently like water in the aftermath of a tsunami. It took him quite some time to settle again.

“You do not hate me?” Eiji eventually asked, sniffing loudly. He was still shaking quite a bit, but he’d stopped crying so woefully. He broke away from Ash to kneel in front of him, head bowed.

“Why would I hate you?”

“I bit you!”

“It was my fault you got so hungry!”

“Still… I am… monster, Ash…”

“Have you ever killed anyone?”

“…No, but I-“

“I have, Eiji,” Ash said quietly, “so tell me… Who’s the real monster here?”

“Do not think of yourself that way,” Eiji chided him, finally meeting his eyes. “You have had… difficult life. Many bad people do things to you, and you have had no choice!”

“Like you don’t have a choice when it comes to diet,” Ash reasoned. “You’re not a monster, Eiji.”

“Other people would think different,” he murmured.

“Fuck other people,” Ash growled. “Let them think what they want, judgemental bastards! They don’t know the real you!”

“Does not change fact that I am vampire…”

“Would a monster wear cute, fluffy, cartoon bird socks?” Ash reasoned.

“Ano…”

“Would a monster bake cookies for an entire gang of street kids? Or patch up the wounded? Or hug someone like… like _me_ … just to offer comfort?”

“Ash…”

“No. I don’t think a monster would do that!” Ash shook his head. “It doesn’t matter what other people think. They can take their generalised opinions and stuff them where the sun doesn’t shine! I don’t care if you’re a vampire, or a werewolf, or a zombie, or whatever! To me, you’re just Eiji – that doesn’t change just because you need to steal a little haemoglobin now and again! It doesn’t affect how I feel about you! If it did… what kind of hypocrite would that make me?”

Eiji didn’t reply, but the expression he wore was complex; part relief, part joy, part disbelief, and part sadness, with just a splash of confusion. He considered himself lucky to be affiliated with someone as accepting of who he was as Ash. He was relieved that Ash wasn’t going to destroy him or report him. Even better, it seemed he was going to allow him to stay by his side as well. It confused him a little that anyone would want to be near him knowing what he was, and yet… Despite Eiji’s vampirism, Ash still seemed set on labelling himself as being worse. That thought left him feeling melancholy for Ash, because he was so bright and intelligent, funny and kind, and so, so much more than his self-esteem or the actions of others towards him would let him believe.

“So… If you don’t mind me asking… When did you… Become one?” Ash asked him

“A vampire?”

“No, a druid,” Ash rolled his eyes. “Of course a vampire.”

“I was sixteen,” he said. This was a little older than Ash had assumed, but then Asians often look young for their age. “When I said I had pole vault accident… that not a lie. I… made rookie mistake. Fell badly into pit. But, it not leg I break… I break neck.”

“You broke your neck?”

“I survive, but I was paralysed from neck down. Could not move arm or leg, could no longer speak clearly… But mind was clear. It was… not nice. My family, at time my father had just been taken ill, and mother was struggling to support us. They had no money to care for disabled son, and Japanese society is… It is, difficult, for disabled person, and I could not do anything for self. I hated self so much! I would have preferred to die!”

“That sounds awful!”

“My doctor offered solution. He is one who turn me! Becoming vampire would allow neck to heal and I would be able to move and speak again. I could help family, earn money, go back to old life, but it came with price. I would need drink blood, and after a few years, because still look young, I would need leave family. But at least I not be burden. So, I accept. Doctor change me, I heal quickly, make excuse that I not break neck at all, was just sprain, and I return to old life. Family not know what I am.”

“Amazing that it could heal a broken neck.”

“Vampires very sturdy, heal quick,” Eiji said.

“Yeah, but full-on quadriplegia?” Ash frowned. “I wonder if it might have helped Griff? Too late to find out now…”

“The change is not pleasant. Hurt a lot, like bees under skin. And your hunger for the first few feeds is unpleasant, like you have been withheld food for weeks. Doctor could not look out for me, like usual sire would, because would compromise position, so he call in one of his friends to keep eye on me. This is how I met Ibe-san… He is my foster.”

“Ibe is a vampire too?”

“Hmm… Ibe-san is 196 years old and much smarter than he appears. He acts naïve a lot of the time as cover for self. But he really is photographer! He been using cameras since very first camera come to Japan, but he change his identity every twenty year or so. You ever hear of Uchida Kuichi? He very famous photographer from Nagasaki, and ‘died’ in 1875. That was Ibe-san. When he find out I pole vaulter, he become interested, and he take pictures of me, but really Ibe-san come to teach me how to be a vampire safely. He show me best ways to… to…”

“Hunt?”

“I want say borrow blood, but it not really borrow if cannot return,” Eiji said with a small, sad smile.

“If Ibe is 196, How old are you now?”

“Nineteen! I no lie about that! I not been vampire very long really…”

“Oh. Cool.”

“Thing is, do not need be vampire very long for perks to show. Started becoming apparent I better at pole vault than everyone. Jump higher, better stamina… Looked suspicious. I had to hide talent, begin acting average, and that got harder and harder as I got stronger. So, I fake second accident while at college, and retired from professional sport. Was upset – I loved jumping, and now because vampire could not continue doing what loved! Ibe-san was big help, and gave me opportunity for future. I accept his offer, and now I here.”

“Stuck in a city far away from home with an asshole who won’t let you out to feed,” Ash said. “Oh! I wonder if Max knows about Ibe! Oh shit… You don’t think… Ibe might be in the same situation? Should I tell Max?”

“Ibe-san can cope with hunger longer than me,” Eiji said, “and he has been vampire for long time now. I not too worried about him revealing self. You tell me Max’s safe house was suburban home, not apartment block… Knowing Ibe-san, he will sneak out window at night and be back within half-hour. He is very quick and gentle with… feeding. More likely, Ibe-san is worrying about me starving than being in trouble himself.”

“Still, what if Max finds out? He may not be as accepting as I am…”

“Ibe-san not been discovered for nearly 175 years, Ash,” Eiji shrugged. “I think he be fine.”

“If anything, knowing Max is with Ibe puts my mind more at ease,” Ash sighed. “It levels the playing field a lot knowing he has a vampire on his side!”

“Does that mean you going to stop worrying about me so much now?” Eiji asked him.

“Nope,” Ash responded. “You’re still a target while you’re with me, and while you might be a little harder to kill than most, a hitman isn’t going to be aiming for your arms and legs. You’re still mortal. Plus, if you get injured, it’s not going to take a genius to figure out what you are, and if anyone does find out, I don’t think I can protect you…”

“So, I still have to stay in apartment?”

“’Fraid so.”

“But Ash… I need to… you know…”

“And you will.”

“How?”

“From me,” Ash said seriously. “I’m young and healthy… I think I can spare a few drops every week.”

Eiji looked simultaneously horrified and bewildered at this suggestion. “You would… do that?” he asked, his eyes shiny. “You realise what you are offering, right?”

“It’s not like I’m offering you an all-you-can-eat buffet here, Eiji,” Ash shrugged. “It’s just a little bit of blood! I’ve probably shed more in a knife fight than your little fangs would ever need. Think of it as a blood donation.”

Eiji looked dangerously close to bursting into tears again at hearing that. If he could feed from a willing Ash, he wouldn’t have to hunt any more. Not hunting would limit the chance of him being caught. Regular feedings meant he would need less blood too. He had heard of vampires who had a friend, family member, or partner, offer to donate to someone they cared about before, but he never thought he would be lucky enough to find someone willing to do it for him.

“Ash… Thank you…” he said gratefully, before prostrating himself on the floor in the lowest kneeling bow he could. <”Thank you so much!”>

“Eiji… Please… get up! You’re embarrassing me!”

“But I very thankful, Ash,” he murmured from the floor, coyly looking up at him through his eyelashes.

“I’m only paying you back for everything you’ve done for me,” Ash said kindly. “And this still isn’t nearly enough.”

“I not done anything special or worth this…” Eiji insisted. “But… thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” Ash smiled slightly. “Now, can we maybe get this bite patched up? The bleeding has just about stopped, but I’m starting to feel a little woozy here!”

“Aaaah! Yes! Of course! Very sorry!” Eiji scrambled to his feet in search of the first aid kit.

***

Life returned pretty much to normal for them after that, or as normal as life got for Ash Lynx. Ash told nobody about Eiji’s secret, and the subject became taboo, although Eiji did let Ibe know that Ash knew what they were. Once a week, Ash would nick open a vein in his wrist with a scalpel, allowing Eiji to feed. Using a sharp medical knife meant that the wound was small and easy to clean and patch up afterwards with some steri-strips and a bandage wound tight, leaving minimal scarring. Eiji would insist on doing the first aid himself with a guilty expression, and he was always so gentle when he fed, his lips more like a kiss than a curse on his wrist.

There were a few brief periods where Ash couldn’t be there for him. After his fight with Arthur, for instance, when he was missing for almost two weeks. Eiji had been taken captive by Yut Lung, but he was able to escape by himself and managed to feed himself on one of the guards who he had knocked out with a vase before he left. The vase had provided him with convenient shards of sharp porcelain, which he was able to use to open a vein in the unfortunate Chinese man, and it hid evidence of his feeding behind several cuts and bruises. He’d then faked an escape attempt, keeping Yut Lung and his men on their toes before making his real escape attempt, albeit earlier than he planned because the news had reported Ash as being dead. Then there was a period of a month when Ash let himself be imprisoned by Golzine to keep Eiji safe from Blanca, during which time Eiji returned to wild feeding. They resumed their system once Ash returned, although for the first week Eiji refused. Ash had been so pale and weak, having not eaten properly throughout his captivity, that Eiji feared anaemia and insisted he get some food and rest for a few days first. 

Everything was going so well until Eiji got shot.

Even for a vampire, taking a direct hit in the middle of the torso is life endangering. The shot missed his heart, however, so the more dangerous possibility was the very real chance someone might find out what Eiji was. Thankfully, he got taken off to hospital before any of the gang twigged. Vampires also have a contingency in place for events such as these, provided they acted fast. Ibe immediately contacted a specialist organisation, who then provided a doctor who could cover for them in the hospital. He took over Eiji’s care immediately upon arrival, so the other medics wouldn’t get suspicious that someone on death’s door when he came into the hospital had somehow made a full recovery within a couple of days. All Eiji had to do was act like he was still weak and in a lot of pain, and stay there for a couple of weeks to convince everyone he was human. The doctor could also provide fresh blood every couple of days allowing Eiji to feed while he was there – while blood donation bags are unsuitable for vampire food because they are not fresh enough, a syringe taken from a patient less than an hour ago under the guise of a blood test and still warm to the touch is ideal in a pinch. They got lucky.

When Ash sneaked in to see him, Eiji was feigning sleep. He heard Ash enter, and could tell from the sound of his step and his distinct, comforting smell who it was. He smiled a little, keeping his eyes closed.

“Come say ‘sayonara’, have you?” he asked wryly.

“You know it!” Ash responded, a slight cocksure note to his tone. Eiji finally opened his eyes to regard him, stood at his bedside in a white coat in a doctor’s disguise.

“This was bit unexpected,” Eiji sighed. “I not expect to end up in hospital! Gunshot not fatal, but still hurt like bitch!”

“Doesn’t change anything though. We still follow through with the plan as before. But we’re going to have to say goodbye a little earlier than I thought.”

“We need make this convincing…” Eiji said.

“How are your acting skills?” Ash queried, slight smirk on his face.

“I been acting human for years,” Eiji shrugged. “Like to think I pretty good actor by now.”

“Right… here’s what we’re going to do…”

Ash went on to outline his amended plan, what he was going to do from now and how Eiji needed to act. Eiji listened intently, nodding occasionally.

“I sure hope this work…” Eiji said. “If it does not…”

“If it doesn’t, then you go back to Japan knowing that we did everything we could,” Ash told him quietly. “But… it’ll work! I’m quietly confident.”

“Yeah. You made plan… I trust your nerd brain.”

“So, you know what you need to do, yeah?”

“Act abandoned and sad,” Eiji nodded. “You horrible friend, going to ghost me completely, and I am badly injured and going home to recover. Ibe-san has already brought plane tickets. I will send message on day we leave, let you know we are gone so you can start next phase.”

“I’ll see you in a few weeks…”

“Going to be difficult not knowing if plan works until then.”

“Worry about that later,” Ash said. “For now… get those false tears flowing, Eiji. It’s showtime!”

Ash left the room. He counted to ten in his head as he slowly walked away down the corridor, waiting for his cue.

“Ash…”

He turned to find Eiji doing a very convincing stumble, using the wall as a support and clutching at his side as if in pain.

“No – Eiji! Go back to bed!” he responded, looking equally pained.

They acted out a desperate goodbye, Eiji pleading with him to go as Charlie and Ibe ran over (Ibe was merely acting as a shield for Eiji – he knew he wasn’t injured any more, but he was smart and twigged early on that this was a ploy), and Ash ran off to complete his mission.

All in all, the first part of their plan went very well. Ash was able to eliminate Foxx, Dino Golzine practically eliminated himself, they were able to rescue Max and the other imprisoned gang kids, and the vast majority of them survived the firefight. The only part where Ash failed was in securing a sample of Banana Fish as proof of its existence. He had wanted at least some part of it to go with all the research and intel he and Max had gathered, but when the choice was between the briefcase that held the truth and the life of Sing Soo Ling… There was only one decision he could make. Eiji would never have forgiven him if he’d let Sing fall to his death, and he didn’t want the death of yet another Chinese boss on his hands.

He started distancing himself from Eiji. He didn’t visit him in hospital again, and he ignored pleas from his gang and from Sing to go to him, even if just to say goodbye. He told Max and Blanca that Eiji would be better off without him, acted as nonchalant as he could, and almost coldly ignored that the young Japanese had even been in his life, much less an integral part of it. Eventually, Sing delivered a letter from Eiji, his cue to enter phase two of his master plan.

He hadn’t been expecting phase 2 to take a turn quite as quick as it did, when Lao bounded out of the shadows just minutes after reading the letter and stabbing him. He’d shot Lao and stumbled into the library. He was fine – everything was fine! This would work just as well as what he’d originally intended, maybe even better! All he needed was for one of the librarians to find him and alert the authorities. He’d get to a hospital. Everything would be fine.

Everything… was fine…

***

Ibe and Eiji returned to America less than a week after arriving home. Max had called them, his voice sombre as he explained what had happened.

Ash had been stabbed outside the NYPL. He’d collapsed slumped over one of the desks in the Rose Room. A librarian had been alerted to his plight at closing time, and paramedics had taken him to hospital, but it had been too late to save him. Ash Lynx had died.

Ibe had been quiet during the phone conversation, Eiji quieter still. They’d caught the next available flight to New York, Eiji remaining quiet and pensive the whole journey back. Max had let them stay at his place, apologising repeatedly for what had happened. Ash’s gang came to see Eiji, all of them inconsolable and sympathetic. Alex had stepped up as leader, and told Eiji he planned to disband them in the near future. Most of them were getting old, and Ash would want them to find jobs and leave the streets if possible. Besides, his legacy was so great, Alex didn’t feel up to the task of filling the void. Eiji had remained stoic while meeting them, saying very few words and maintaining a face of little emotion. When he’d seen Sing again, the little Cantonese had hugged him, sobbing and apologising over and over. Eiji hadn’t responded.

Ash’s funeral had been a quiet affair. Alex, Kong and Bones went to represent the gang but, because several of the others held arrest warrants, they avoided the gathering and held their own wake back at their hideout in Ash’s memory. Max was there with Jess and Michael, as were Charlie and Jenkins, with Nadia Wong and Sing. Yut Lung made a brief appearance, escorted by bodyguards. He left a single oriental lily at the graveside before promptly leaving. Blanca didn’t attend, but a copy of ‘Islands in the Stream’ mysteriously made its way to the graveside a few days afterwards. Ibe and Eiji stood back from the main group, dressed up in neat black funeral attire. Ibe with an arm over Eiji’s shoulders. He didn’t cry, didn’t show any emotion at all really. Everyone assumed he was in deep grief and shock; Ash had been incredibly important to him, after all, like an extension to his very soul.

The two Japanese remained at the graveside long after the others had left. They were due to fly back that evening, Ibe having already said farewell to Max and their luggage forwarded to the airport in preparation. All they needed to do was get to the airport.

A lady with long black hair and a boyish frame, wearing a black pantsuit and a net fascinator clipped to their fringe hiding their eyes, walked up to them in the graveyard. She stood beside them, sighed once, and in an unnaturally deep voice proclaimed, “Beautiful ceremony. Pretty good turnout for a street punk!”

“He was more than just street punk,” Eiji murmured. “He was inspiration.”

“I wouldn’t go quite that far…” she replied. “Young man was a murderer and a whore. Hardly inspiring.”

“Shows what you know,” Eiji said mildly. He turned to her and smiled, and from under the black wig Ash Lynx grinned back. “I still cannot believe plan worked!”

“Of course it worked,” Ash bragged. “I came up with it!”

“But if you be found out…”

“I’ve been running from authorities most of my adolescent life. I’ve been labelled a monster since I could first hold a pistol. Being a vampire is nothing.”

“Hmm…”

It had been Ash’s idea to turn. After being separated from Eiji in Dino’s mansion, finding himself tumbling into depression and loneliness, he had realised exactly how much the Japanese boy meant to him. He wanted to be with him, but if things remained as they did, Ash was going to live, burn out, and die in the blink of an eye, whereas Eiji would live on for potentially several centuries if he was careful. Even if Ash survived to be an old man, he would still perish before Eiji, and Eiji would remain young for decades. Ash would be seventy, while Eiji wouldn’t look a day over 20. People would get suspicious, and it was not fair to expect him to stay while he wasted away. However, there was one way they could be together for a lifetime, and a considerably long one at that.

They’d conducted the ceremony a couple of days before Eiji was shot, locked together in Ash’s room in their hideout. Ash had planned everything out, voicing how he felt to Eiji in a heartfelt confession. Eiji had been simultaneously overwhelmed and overjoyed, telling Ash his concerns and making absolutely sure that he was certain this was what he wanted. Of course he wanted to stay with him, and he wished more than anything to take him away from his current life, but… being a vampire was dangerous and difficult. They would have to move every few years, would have to live in constant fear of being found out and persecuted. Ash had just shrugged and said it wasn’t much different to how he lived now. Eiji had explained how to change him, Ash keen to switch as soon as possible to give him the best chance at defeating Foxx and Golzine. If he was death resistant, it would make things so much easier! Ash had then opened a fresh cut on his palm, passing the knife to Eiji so he could do the same.

“Are you sure you want do this?” Eiji had asked him, blood welling in his palm as he waited for the affirmative. “Being vampire… very big commitment to make. Change life completely!”

“More than anything,” Ash had responded seriously. “Stay with me, Eiji…” He had taken Eiji’s hand gently in his own, lacing their fingers with their palms together, and the change had begun.

It doesn’t take much vampire blood to change a human. Eiji had held him through the night as the painful transformation took place, stroking his hair gently and mopping his brow with a damp flannel while he writhed and moaned.

“You weren’t kiddin’ when you said it felt like bees!” Ash had hissed through the pain. “I feel like someone’s injected acid under my skin!”

“It be over soon,” Eiji assured him soothingly, holding him to his chest. “Worst already over. Try and sleep.”

In the early hours of the morning, they had sneaked some blood out of one of the heavier sleepers in Cain’s gang – the previous night, several of them had drunk a considerable amount of beer and spirits, and now lay around the base in near-coma. They’d been able to nick one of them on the leg and drain just enough blood to keep Ash going for the next week, claiming he had bashed himself against the table in his sleep when he finally woke up and found his leg cut and sticky with coagulated blood. Eiji had patched him up with a cluelessly innocent smile, the young man none the wiser that it had actually been the sneaky Japanese who had cut him in the first place. The blood had left Ash feeling renewed and full of vigour. He already felt stronger than he had before, his vision sharper and his senses honed.

They hadn’t expected Eiji to be shot. The original plan was for him to just go home. However, it didn’t change the outcome – if anything, it aided their plot, because now they had a doctor on their side. Eiji had explained to Ibe and the doctor what had happened and what they had planned, and both of them quickly agreed to help them out. Ibe had sorted Ash some false papers and agreed to take him under his wing like he had Eiji. Ash escaped detection from his own gunshot wound because, once Blanca had done the initial first aid, Ash refused to let anyone else look at him. He copied Eiji in acting like he was in pain, keeping the bandage on over the now-healed area of skin. He did the same with the stab wounds Foxx left him with. The doctor had then helped Ash ‘die’, taking over from the humans while he was in A&E after Lao stabbed him, proclaiming him dead and taking him to the mortuary. Here, Ash had promptly thanked him, sat up, and jumped off the trolley with no evidence to show he’d ever been stabbed beyond a few smears of blood on his skin and a bag full of damaged clothing. Just as they hadn't been expecting Eiji's injury, Ash hadn’t been expecting Lao either – his original plan was to fake a suicide – but it had still worked out in the end and, this way, he could be with Eiji even sooner. The doctor gave him a syringe of fresh blood to tide him over, then he’d changed into a disguise and walked out the hospital bold as brass. The organisation the doctor worked for had prepared his funeral from that point, arranging a closed casket ceremony with an empty coffin. Nobody ever saw the body.

Now the three of them, Ash, Eiji, and Ibe, stood alone in front of a grave marker telling the world that Aslan J. Callenreese was dead and buried, never to haunt the streets of New York again. He was finally free.

“So, when’s that flight?” Ash asked Eiji.

“8pm,” Eiji replied. “Direct flight to Tokyo. We have taxi coming to pick us up very soon.”

“I’m looking forward to seeing your hometown,” Ash told him truthfully. “I think you’ve seen just about every corner of mine.”

“Izumo very different,” Eiji said happily. “I will show you everything!”

“No rush though,” Ash said, his smile showing off his newly developed little fangs. “We have all the time in the world.”

“Yes,” Eiji agreed. “We have eternity to explore!”


End file.
